The Second Time Around
by ASHtheMUSICALgirl13
Summary: Summary: Olga Pataki takes the time to think about her sister and their relationship, or lack thereof. She decides to leave Helga alone for good. When a freak accident gives Olga a second chance, will it be enough to mend the rift between them? Rated K for mature content.


**A/N: I thought of this one-shot three days ago and it wouldn't leave alone. Olga centered, because if I were Olga, I would feel the same way. And thus it was easy for me to write her and I think I did so well. I don't think this is very OOC for Olga since A lot of Olga's character on Hey Arnold! is false because she wants her parents to love her and keep giving her attention. Also, she does not seem to think much about her family consciously and when she does it puts her into a somewhat depressed state of mind because she feels powerless to fix things. This fic is AU, as in Alternate Universe. Also, I am not a professional writer (yet) and right now I am just doing this for fun. So, no beta and spelling/grammar mistakes afoot, read at your own risk! Ye have been warned!**

 ***Disclaimer: I do not own. Hey Arnold! (Both this fic and the images used for the cover art) are owned by Nickelodeon.***

 **Summary: Olga Pataki takes the time to think about her sister and their relationship, or lack thereof. She decides to leave Helga alone for good. When a freak accident gives Olga a second chance, will it be enough to mend the rift between them?**

* * *

 _ **The Second Time Around: One-Shot By: ASHtheMUSICALgirl13.**_

Olga Merriam Pataki was the example of the perfect daughter. Great grades in school. Numerous awards, honors, and trophies. Well behaved. Selfless yet not a doormat. Yes, she was everything Robert "Big Bob" Pataki could want in a daughter. Yet said young woman could not help but think that in spite of all that she had accomplished, her biggest and only real failure hurt her very deeply. Her one failure, her inattentiveness when it came to her "baby" sister Helga G. Pataki. Olga Pataki might be a genius and a star, but she was also a failure as a sister, especially an older sister. Sure Olga tried to bond with Helga on her visits home after she started college, but by then it was far too late to fill that missing void of love and support in her younger sister.

During the day and on said visits, Olga would rarely acknowledge what was going on in their family, but all alone at night Olga has been haunted by the pain she has let herself be blind to. After hearing about Helga going to see a psychiatrist, Olga decided she would go to the same one, secretly so that her parents would not object and try to talk her out of it like they normally did with anything involving Helga's wellbeing.

Dr. Bliss was as professional as they come, yet she could be friendly and relatable too. In one instance, as they were talking about Helga, the main unfortunate subject of their conversations, Olga mentioned her sister's first day of preschool. How the normally quiet and sweet girl seemed to change into a troublemaker after just one afternoon. Dr. Bliss mentioned that she knew why Helga had changed so abruptly, but do to patient doctor confidentially, she could not explain to Olga why the woman's sister had become so troubled. Likewise Olga acknowledged that she should have been more assertive against her parents giving her so much attention while completely ignoring her sister. After months of one on one therapy with Dr. Bliss, Olga has finally undone a lot of the conditioning her parents had trained her into that was the main catalyst of Olga ignoring Helga.

In a bizarre turn of events, Olga would get a chance to trade away all of her many successes to have the one success she always wanted to have but always failed at, being a good older sister.

* * *

August 12th, 1997. In the Pataki household, Big Bob is at work at his "Beeper kingdom" while his wife Merriam is passed out cold on the living room couch, a suspicious half empty "smoothie" still clutched in her right hand half dripping on the old stained carpet, old mud stains from a traumatized toddler long ago. Olga walks through the front door of the Pataki home, on the lookout for her sister. The pink clad, blonde pigtailed, uni-browed tough girl is sitting next to her unconscious mother, watching the TV with a bored, half-awake expression on her face.

"Helga, I don't mean to bother you but we need to talk as soon as possible," announces the older, shorter haired blonde girl, "Now preferably, before daddy gets home."

"Sure," replies Helga emotionless, on the outside, on the inside the ten year old girl is anxious because her sister never calls her anything other than "baby sister". The Pataki sisters head up to Olga's old room where they can talk in private. Once Olga closes the door shut, Helga explodes at her sister, her anxiety no longer hidden behind her cold mask of indifference.

"Crimany Olga, you never call me by my actual name!" yells Helga nervously, "What do you want now!"

"Helga, I have not been entirely truthful with mommy and daddy," replies the blonde haired older girl, "After I heard about you going to Dr. Bliss even after your required time was up, I figured it would be a good idea for me to go too, especially knowing how our parents' would never go for themselves."

"I learned a lot about myself," continues Olga wistfully, "But more importantly I learned a lot about you and about my real relationship to you, or lack thereof. I'll be honest with you Helga, if I was just a bad sister and if our parents were more decent people, you would probably not have to see Dr. Bliss at all. But that is not the case. Our parents are not abusive, but they are neglectful and in a lot of ways that is actually worse. Now add mediocre parents at best who ignore you plus a sister who takes whatever little care they actually have and well, now that I have had time to really think about it I do not understand how you can be as okay as you are."

"I may have accomplished many things Helga," confesses the sad woman, "but my only failure is the worst failure I could ever have. I failed you as a sister Helga! I was so blind to your suffering for years and even when I knew the truth I did nothing to help you. I only did with mom and dad expected of me. I feared if I was not their perfect daughter anymore that they wouldn't love me anymore. But I never realized the love you might be missing out on. If I could go back to being twelve years old again, I would make sure to walk you to your first day of preschool. I would have hugged you and comforted you when you needed it instead of ignoring you for my stupid piano lessons!"

"Olga are you okay?" asks Helga, genuinely concerned at her sister's strange behavior, "You never swear. As for those other things you said, well sorry to burst your bubble bucko, but no matter how much you want to change you're never gonna be able to change it. You've always been a lousy sister and Bob and Merriam are hardly my parents. True they are your parents, but never mine. We might as well not even be sisters."

"You are right Helga," agrees Olga as she fights back sobs, "I was never your sister. That is the problem, I should have been, but I was not. As much as I want to be your sister now, it is probably too late. A few words can't undo a decade of damage. That is why I am leaving for good and cutting all contact with mom and dad, and you. Helga you will never have to deal with me ever again, I promise. Eventually mommy and daddy will have to acknowledge you when they no longer have me to cling to. It will be better for all of us if I go, I've only been enabling their bad behavior towards you."

"Where will you go?" asks Helga out of curiosity, her voice taking a far more soft tone of voice.

"I don't even know yet Helga," answers Olga thoughtfully, "Just somewhere far away from Hillwood and from you. So that your life will hopefully be better without me in it."

"Criminey Olga it's weird that I hate to say this but," announces Helga bemused, "even though my life will be better without you in it, well, take care of yourself okay. I don't want to hear about you falling off some bridge or some stupid thing like that."

"I'll be fine Helga," comments Olga with a gentle laugh, "I am so sorry I was never the sister you really needed. I know I hurt you but I never meant for you to suffer the way you do. I hope you could forgive me someday for how I treated you, even if we can never really be sisters."

"Well, have a nice life Olga," states Helga quietly, "I think I might miss your false cheerfulness, almost."

"Goodbye Helga," Olga states as she hugs her baby sister one last time, "Take care of mommy and daddy for me. I left a note for them but they will take a long time to actually believe it, but then things will start to get better. And tell Arnold how you really feel, if you don't you'll never know if he could feel something too. Do it as a last request of sorts, it is for your own benefit."

With that Olga walks to the front door of the house and leaves the Pataki home for good, leaving behind a shocked Helga G. Pataki…

* * *

Over a year later, September 1st, 1998. After spending a year homeless living in San Francisco, Olga hitchhikes a ride back to Hillwood, just to check up on her former sister, but she will not let herself be seen. Completely unrecognizable, Olga is almost certain Helga will not be able to tell it is her, but she promises herself to stay in the shadows just in case, as Helga is a very intelligent girl and would actually be the one person most likely to see through her semi-disguise, semi-"new" look, as if greasy, shaggy hair and ratty clothes could qualify as anyone's "new" look.

The weather is windy and stormy, with cold rain pouring on the poor homeless girl. Olga hides behind the building of her former home, peaking behind the metal trash cans. On the other side is Helga, her hair in a ponytail instead of pigtails and wearing pink pants instead of a dress, as she walks to the front door of the house holding hands with none other than Arnold Shortman himself underneath an old, turquoise umbrella. Olga cannot hide the grin on her soaked, dirt stained face at the sight of young, innocent love. She stays for only a moment before starting to walk down the street. After another flash of lightning, a bus speeds out of nowhere and crashes right into Olga, a jagged piece of metal hitting her head so hard it kills her instantly…

* * *

Or it should have...

* * *

Olga awakens with no pain whatsoever to an oddly familiar room…her old room in the Pataki home to be exact. Jumping out of bed, she rushes to the mirror on her bedroom door and notices she is no longer a twenty-something year old woman, but instead a twelve year old girl. The date on the wall calendar, September 1st, 1988, confirms Olga's mental calculation of her body. She is twelve years old again and if the date is correct, it is Helga's first day of preschool. It was the day her father was convinced she was a genius as well as a musical prodigy and pushed to convince her still sober mother that Olga needed special tutors. The younger Olga had worked hard all summer to make her father proud of her, but this Olga was far wiser than the "old" Olga. Instead of proving to her father that she is a prodigy, she is going to smother Helga with some much needed affection and she is going to completely ignore her father's ambitious plans for her.

The rain is pouring outside the Pataki home now just as it had in the future. Olga stares out the window wondering what she should do with the knowledge she has. Helga is her top priority that is a certainty. What she was going to do with her future, Olga hasn't a clue. All she knows is by the time 1998 comes around again, her sister would be well taken care of and living with her.

"Olga dear," announces a much younger and less drunken Merriam Pataki, "Time to wake up. Your daddy wants you to show me the wonderful music you have been practicing on the piano."

"What about Helga mommy?" asks the now young again Olga, wondering if she had asked about her sister the first time around, "It is her first day of preschool today. I don't go back to school until the 3rd."

"Oh, yes of course dear," guiltily replies Merriam, as she had completely forgotten it was Helga's first day of preschool, "I will make sure Helga is ready for school while you prepare for your piano demonstration downstairs with daddy. He did take the day off of work for this. Apparently a guy he knows in the music industry is eager to hear you later today as well."

"Okay mommy," states Olga with no intention of cooperating with her father this time around. While originally excited at the prospect of her hard, self-taught piano work being appreciated by adults, this time around Olga has no desire to show off her talents knowing full well the kind of day her sister will be having.

After giving her mother a deceptively "re-assuring hug", Olga gets dressed in her old garden clothes, blue denim overalls and a turquoise t-shirt, instead of her more grown up preppy style clothing, intending to act like every bit the child she still was. Being an adult once already, Olga was excited to be a kid again; well really this is her first time acting like a child as she had to act so mature the first time around.

"Daddy?" calls out Olga as she enters the living room, nearly empty of awards save the one Spelling Bee trophy she had won when she was in the 4th Grade. It dawns on Olga that while her parents always gave her tons of attention, she had not become the prodigy she was known as until she was twelve years old and she released a classical piano instrumental album that ended up going platinum. Knowing the pain she and her sister would go through, Olga decides to prevent herself from ever becoming the star she was the first time around. The Second Time Around Olga was going to be a normal girl who always looked out for her little sister. It will be the Pataki Girls against the world, and not even their parents would come between them this time.

"Olga!" yells Big Bob as his tone changes from affectionate to strained, "What are you doing in those rags? Put somethin' nice on we're going to have company today to see your piano show!"

"Daddy, I am not going to be doing a show today. I quit the piano," states Olga bravely against her father, knowing how angry he is going to react, "I thought about it and if I am as good as you think I am, I will not have the life I want to live. I want to be a normal girl and just go to school and make friends. I want to be a good older sister to Helga and I can't do that if I become this piano super star. I won't do it daddy! If you try to punish me or make me do this show I will make it horrible on purpose!"

"Olga Merriam Pataki what has gotten into you?" yells Big Bob angrily, "You are starting to act like the Girl! I thought you were a Winner Olga! If you quit this chance to make it big you will be no better than Her!"

"Her name is Helga!" Olga yells back, shocking both her parents as Olga had never yelled before in her life, nor had she ever corrected either of them when they never acknowledged Helga by her real name, "And there is nothing wrong with her. It is not her fault she and I are nothing alike, but she is amazing just the way she is! If you don't want anything to do with her or me than fine, I'll look after her. She is my sister!"

"Get out of my sight," states Big Bob bitterly, "Come back to me when you've screwed your head back on Olga. Merriam, looks like I'm going into work after all!"

"Coming B'," states Merriam as she rushes to get her husband's work clothes ready for him.

Meanwhile, Olga walks into the kitchen to finish making Helga's lunch, noticing her mother used the wrong jelly. While it was true Olga loved strawberry jelly on her PB&J sandwiches, she knew Helga was in fact allergic to strawberries. Quickly making a new sandwich that had not touched the strawberry jelly, Olga vowed to sacrifice a bit on her love of all things strawberry so that her sister would not be around the allergen. Yet another thing Olga never noticed, that her parents were so careless about Helga's food allergy and so eager to please Olga into being their perfect child that they routinely put her sister in danger.

"I wonder if Helga ever ate her lunch?" states Olga to herself, "Considering she was alive and well before, I somehow doubt she ever ate the lunch mom made her."

Those thoughts were confirmed when Olga noticed that not only did her mother pack Helga a strawberry jelly sandwich, but the woman had also packed the lunch with strawberry milk. Was her mother trying to kill poor little Helga! Olga started to get even angrier at her parents then she was before the time jump.

"Helga I am going to make you lunch from now on!" states Olga determinedly, "I never knew mommy and daddy were that bad to you!"

"Never knew what?" asks a three year old Helga Pataki, dressed in pink overalls and a white shirt, and a big pink bow on top of her blonde hair, as she walks into the kitchen about to remind her mom that it was almost time for her to go to preschool.

Olga did not realize she had said "I never knew" out loud but she quickly turned her attention onto her sister. The last time Olga talked to Helga, the girl was angry at Olga always stealing their parent's attention but she was also emotionally not connected to her sister at all. This time Olga was going to change everything and show Helga how much she was loved and cared for.

"Nothing Helga," replies Olga nervously, "I just finished making you lunch since mommy was busy getting daddy ready for work. How would you like it if I took you to preschool? I could take you every day since you leave an hour before I will have school and get out an hour before I get out of school. You would have to wait an hour for me though."

"You remembered?" asks Helga bewildered and Olga could tell it was about a lot more than her sister's lunch or first day of preschool.

"Yeah," answers the older blonde girl with a big smile on her face, a smaller smile starting to crack onto the smaller girl's cautious face, "You are my little sister after all. I know you can take care of yourself (she remembered when Dr. Bliss would let it slip that Helga was very self-sufficient even at the tender age of three) but I love you and want to help you. That's what sisters are for!"

"Okay," answers Helga softly, afraid if she says this she will find she is only dreaming and that nobody cares about her.

"It's a deal then!" agrees Olga happily, much more like herself then she has been in a very long time, "I'll talk to your teacher today and ask her if you could stay an extra hour with the older kindergarteners. I don't want you to think I forgot about you Helga, I just have school too and I get out later than you."

Olga helps her sister get ready for school, including making sure Helga has on her rain boots and raincoat before she herself gets ready for the rainy weather. Just as her father is about to leave for work, Olga quickly grabs Big Bob's attention.

"Daddy, I know you are angry with me," states Olga tearfully, her father surprisingly swayed, "but could you please drop Helga and me off at or near the preschool, the weather is really bad today? Please daddy?"

"Alright Olga, I'll drop you and the girl off close to that school," agrees Big Bop surprisingly, "But just this once. Unless it is a blizzard you are a big girl and could walk there yourself with the Girl. Or take a bus."

"Thank you daddy!" exclaims Olga happily, "Come on Helga time to go to preschool!"

The two girls ride in the back of their father's car, Helga tightly grabbing her lunch, as they pass a bus that nearly crashes into them and a stray dog that causes chills to rundown Olga's spine (she wonders if that dog stole Helga's lunch in the original timeline as Dr. Bliss might have accidently mentioned in one of their sessions).

About a block away from the preschool Big Bob drops them off.

"Alright, you two can make it from here," yells Big Bob, "I'm late enough as it is! Well, get out and uh, Helga, have a good first day."

The awkward rushed sentence catches both girls off guard but they are out of the car and watching their father speed off before they can think about what he said, him acknowledging Helga by her actual name instead of Olga or more often Girl. Before heading to the school Olga pulls Helga into a bone crushing hug that nearly suffocates the smaller girl.

"Helga before we go I have some things I want to tell you!" advises the twelve year old adult, "A lot of the other kids are going to be mean to you, especially on your first day. No matter what I want you to promise me to try to be nice, no matter how mean they are to you. And whatever you do please don't try to be mean on purpose. Be yourself Helga, and be especially nice to the people who are important to you and nice to you too."

"Why?" Helga asks confused as she is not used to people acknowledging her and talking directly to her.

"You will be very sad if you like someone but are too afraid to be nice to them and they end up not liking you because you were mean to them," answers Olga honestly, knowing her sister is smart enough to understand what the older girl is saying, "I love you for the sweet girl I know you are. Don't change because some of the kids might laugh at you. Most of them are not as smart or sweet as you anyway. You should still stick up for yourself, but don't think being a bully is going to make them stop laughing at you because they won't stop unless you show them you don't care what they think and continue to be yourself. Always be yourself, who you are on the inside, Helga. "

"Okay. I promise to be a good girl Olga," announces Helga in her sweet high pitched, soft voice, before said little girl starts running towards the school, "Now come on, we're going to be late for preschool!"

"I'm coming Helga!" yells Olga as she tries to catch up to her little sister, "Slow down Helga the sidewalk is too slippery, you could fa…"

Olga is cut off by seeing her sister about to fall to the ground hard. Running like she used to when she was a physically fit adult is painful for the only moderately active girl but Olga manages to reach her sister in time to break the smaller girl's fall, although both sisters end up landing into the gutter and getting covered in mud.

"Never run away from me like that again!" yells Olga angrily at first who then softens her voice as she hugs Helga tightly, "You could have gotten hurt! Mommy and Daddy might not care, but I do!"

"I'm sorry Olga," apologizes Helga sadly, "I won't run away again"

"Good," replies the older girl, "You can come to me with or about anything. No matter what I will always love you, okay."

"Okay," sniffles Helga, for once actually hugging Olga back and making the older girl cry.

Olga is crawling around in the mud looking for her umbrella she was holding for Helga and her earlier when said umbrella is pointed at her. Looking up Olga notices an old man holding a slightly bigger umbrella (the one she saw Arnold holding earlier that day in the future before she "died" and woke up in the past) and a small boy around her sister's age with a distinctive football shaped head.

"I'm sorry sir," starts Olga shyly, "My sister was about to fall onto the sidewalk and I didn't want her to get hurt so I tried to break her fall. I must have dropped my umbrella in the process. Thank you for finding it."

"The name's Phil," replies the old man, "And this is my grandson Arnold, he found your umbrella."

"Oh," comments Olga, "Thank you Arnold. My name is Olga and this is my little sister Helga, I think she will be going to school with you."

"You're welcome Miss Olga," states the boy politely to the older girl before talking to Helga, "Helga, I like your bow."

"Huh?" asks Helga confused.

"I like your bow," reiterates the blonde haired boy, " 'Cause it's pink like your pants."

Both three year olds blush while Phil and Olga look at them with matching knowing smiles…

* * *

Olga eventually decided it was better to take care of Helga while still living at home because while their parents were not always the most attentive or responsible, they more often than not meant well and deep down they really did love both their daughters, even if they were not the best at showing it. Plus their father provided a stable income, the neighborhood was home, and Helga was very close with her best friends Phoebe and Arnold (who was also her "secret" crush) who lived nearby.

Helga never became the bully Olga remembered her as before, instead she is a tough girl who is really a softy and defends other kids from bullies such as Wolfgang. Her friendship with Phoebe was destined but her extremely close friendship with Arnold, the boy she would torment in another life, surprised Olga. The older girl had no idea how much her little sister took that valuable advice to heart. The only thing, besides her friendship with Phoebe which in retrospect is much healthier, that Helga had not changed was her secret love and obsession with Arnold romantically, which she has been much more open to Olga about.

Olga never did go to all those fancy schools and places she traveled to before, choosing to go to community college instead majoring in elementary school teaching since she always loved being around children and teaching them how to become responsible adults (like she was doing with her sister). Although disappointed in Olga for not winning all those competitions like she had done in a past life, a big part of Big Bob (no pun intended) was actually glad his oldest daughter was staying at home and helping raise his younger daughter since his wife didn't seem to be capable of anything these days.

The Pataki Sisters are the closest siblings in Hillwood even in spite of their nearly ten year age gap. The younger Pataki sister is forever grateful her older sister noticed her when her parents did not, otherwise she knows she could have lead a much harder, lonelier life. Helga is the only person who knows Olga's secret just like Olga is the only person (besides Brainy who remains Helga's stalker and Arnold's grandpa Phil) who knows Helga's secret. While Olga can never tell her secret or risk being called crazy, Helga will eventually have to reveal her secret or she will risk her love moving onto someone else.

* * *

Years later, August 12th, 1997 _Again_.

In the Pataki household, Big Bob is at work at his "Beeper kingdom" while his wife Merriam is passed out cold on the living room couch, a suspicious half empty "smoothie" still clutched in her right hand half dripping on the old stained carpet, old mud stains from a goofy girl and her equally goofy toddler sister long ago. Olga walks through the front door of the Pataki home, on the lookout for her sister. The pink clad, blonde pigtailed, uni-browed tough girl is sitting next to her unconscious mother, watching the TV with a bored, half-awake expression on her face.

"Helga, I don't mean to bother you but we need to talk as soon as possible," announces the older, shorter haired blonde girl, "Now preferably, before daddy gets home."

"Sure," replies Helga suspiciously. There are few times when her sister seems so serious and this is one of those times.

The Pataki sisters head up to Olga's room where they can talk in private. Once Olga closes the door shut, Helga hugs her sister tightly.

"Olga, crimany, what's wrong?" asks a concerned Helga as she hugs her sister. Olga vaguely remembers how last time they had this conversation in that other future Helga was far less affectionate towards her.

"You remember when I mentioned that I lived this whole other future?" asks Olga sadly. Helga only nods her head yes without letting go of her sister.

"Well last time we had this conversation, I promised to leave you and mommy and daddy for good because I knew even just by visiting I was only making your living situation worse," reveals the young blonde woman, "I know I've mentioned this to you before, but today was the anniversary that the Conversation would have happened. You even agreed with me that I was not your sister."

"I still can't believe I said that and that you gave up your life for me," states Helga vulnerably, "You were supposed to do all these amazing things and you never did them. Just so that I wouldn't turn out messed up or at least not as messed up as I was before."

"Helga, you are my sister and I love you," replies Olga seriously, "And besides that I never really wanted to do all of those things before anyway. Daddy had wanted me to be a star while I just wanted to be a normal girl who loves her sister. I have done what I have always wanted to do and continue to do so. None of those accomplishments could ever matter to me when the only one that has ever mattered was being a good sister to you. I could never take this second chance I have with you for granted ever. Not for all the awards and Daddy's praise in the world!"

"You've always been the best sister I could ever have and you are more my parents than Bob and Merriam are most of the time," praises Helga, as she jumps out of Olga's arms dramatically, "My life would never be better without you in it! If it wasn't for you Olga, Crimany I would have hated the person I would have let myself become out of my own fears."

"I guess this means I am not leaving," jokingly responds Olga.

Helga just glares at her sister, punches the woman in the arm, and then hugs her tightly again before muttering, "No, never."

"Fine," announces Olga deviously, "I will stay…on one condition…"

"What?" asks Helga bemused.

"Tell Arnold how you really feel, if you don't you'll never know if he could feel something too," proclaims Olga, whom up until this point never told Helga to reveal said girl's feelings to Arnold.

"Why are you giving me a weird look? Did you tell the other me that?" asks Helga confused yet hopeful, "Did I tell him. Did we get together?"

"Helga I already told you we lost contact after today in that other future that feels like a vague old dream, or nightmare really," answers Olga truthfully yet mysteriously, "Hmm, then again the other you wanted me to know more about you then you had let on. All those hints Dr. Bliss "accidentally" let slip about you I think you told her she could tell me. Even when we weren't close, I think we both really wanted to be. And I think if I accidentally tell you I might have saw you with Arnold holding hands when I was homeless a little more than a year from now, well oops, I shouldn't have said that. Forget what I just said."

"Right, um could you excuse me Olga," states Helga rapidly, "I need to tell Arnold something really important!"

"Why the hurry?" asks Olga with her famous knowing smile.

"I just really want to follow through with some old advice from a woman who was almost my sister," replies Helga as she rushes to the door, "I better do it before it's too late. I'll tell you all about it later, Olga, bye!"

Olga just chuckles as she watches Helga begin to run outside, then remembering an old promise slows down to a brisk walk to the boarding house where a certain football headed boy lived…

* * *

Over a year later, September 1st, 1998. _Also Again_.

Olga Pataki is finally preparing for her student teaching part of her degree program. In just two days she will be student teaching with Mr. Simmons at P.S 118. The year she spent homeless nearly a lifetime ago, Olga cannot help but feel anxious today, on the anniversary of her "death" as she was sure she had died, how else could she have ended back into her old twelve year old body for a second chance at life?

It is still as stormy a day as Olga remembered it the first time. Even though she is not homeless, her style outside the professional arena has always been the casual denim look since the moment she got dressed in the past. Where a similar, though far cleaner version of the same exact outfit she wore in that other future, Olga looks on as she sees the identical scene from before, also not wanting to be seen although this time it is because she does not want to embarrass her sister and her sister's football headed boyfriend of a little over a year, not out of fear of breaking a promise to said sister.

With a deep sense of deja-vu, she stays for only a moment before starting to walk down the street. After another flash of lightning, a bus speeds out of nowhere and nearly crashes right into Olga, a jagged piece of metal just missing her head by centimeters and thrown so hard it would have killed her instantly, but instead leaves not even a scratch on her. Shocked at surviving her would be death, Olga immediately runs home (ignoring the fact she has left the scene of an accident, of which she is never charged because she is never caught doing so as none of the witnesses noticed her in such ratty clothes and thinking her to be a random homeless woman) trying to pretend nothing had happened at all. One more secret Helga will have against her, and Helga was already in the lead of having secrets versus keeping secrets after she revealed her only secret to Arnold the year before. Realizing this Olga almost wanted to die and then laughed at the irony until her father walked through the front door five minutes later with a confused look on his face. Nothing could make this situation more ironical Olga thinks, except that made Big Bob have to say, "Olga, did you hear about that bus accident…"

* * *

That's All Folks! ;)


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